William Penn and Early Quakerism (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS127 of diplomats and helped build the peace movement in the land of the "Samurai." Next Elizabeth Comstock, the young English widow who came to America in search of work to support her small daughter. She found openings for her gifts, "the pioneer spirit of George Fox, the social witness of Elizabeth Fry and the evangelical concern of Joseph John Gurney." Though she traveled widely, Michigan was her home. Susie Erazer, an American Indian Quaker blazed a trail of understanding of the Indians' problems through her singing and her loving spirit. From the Northwest Errol Elliott has chosen William Hobson who dev veloped a community in Willamette Valley with Quakerism as its guiding principle. Last, Walter Malone of Ohio is portrayed with his deep concern for spreading the Christian message at home and abroad. Some of his group started Friends' work in East Africa where there is now a yearly meeting with 30,000 members—the largest in the world. These are not biographies. They are profiles. Heredity, training and individual strengths are outlined with a clear hand as these Friends follow the spirit of Christ as it was revealed to each. These sketches help us to understand the different emphases which various Quaker groups hold dear. They also show a common dependence on the light within and courage and determination to follow that light. They show the importance of obedience and the wonderful way diat God uses those who seek to know and do His will. PhiladelphiaEsther B. Rhoads William Penn and Early Quakerism. By Melvin B. Endy, Jr., Princeton, Princeton University Press. 1973. viii and 410 pages: $17.50. Here at long last is a study of William Penn which focuses on his thought and which places him squarely within the context of early Quakerism. Most recent studies of Penn have given primary attention to his activities as a politician and colonizer, and the roots of his thought in Quaker religious experience have been comparatively neglected. This thorough and independent study by a competent young scholar goes far toward filling this gap. Professor Endy's book is also a valuable contribution to the understanding of early Quakerism. For almost a generation the early Quakers have been seen so exclusively in the context of left-wing Puritanism that other strains in their ancestry have been overlooked or minimized. We have been given a sharply defined image of the Quakers of the Interregnum as a compact body of English separatists and sectarians, holding a theology fairly close to Calvinism and setting out to proclaim the imminent Day of Visitation and fight the Lamb's War. Doubtless this is one aspect of early Quakerism, but, as Endy shows in meticulous detail, it provides an over-simplified picture. There were other influences and tendencies present from the beginning, derived from continental mysticism and spiritualism, from die Anabaptists, and to a lesser degree from such "rationalistic" sources at Platonism, Arminianism and even Socinianism. Endy does not deny that Quaker thought moved in somewhat different 128QUAKER HISTORY directions after the Restoration as a new generation of better-educated leaders came to the fore. But he insists that the tendencies which developed in this period had their beginnings among the earliest Friends. It may not be easy to find traces of "rationalism" in George Fox but Endy shows that they were present in forms which led inevitably to further development in the next generation. He also emphasizes the important transitional role played by such figures as Penington and Fisher, particularly the latter. Fisher's Rusticus ad Académicos is not very readable and therefore remains largely unread, but Endy extracts many quotations which show deep insight. If Penington provides thè background for Keith and Barclay, Fisher provides essential elements for understanding William Penn. Fisher's background as a General Baptist explains his Arminian tendencies and these provide systematic grounding for Fox's instinctive rejection of Calvinistic doctrines such as election and irresistible grace. In the midst of various and sometimes conflicting tendencies, Penn is one of those who strove to bring a degree of order and consistency into Quaker theology, while keeping it firmly rooted in experience. He is admittedly less systematic than Barclay...